JUDY! Garland, Joan Ellison, Vocalist

March 25, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.

Joan Ellison has been praised for her “vocal prowess….[and] organic grasp of the classic songs” by Michael Feinstein, and “possess[ing] a crystalline voice that never stops” (Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer). She has been performing Garland tunes with symphony orchestras and in theaters for several years, but the 2016 TheatreZone (Naples, Florida) production of The Boy From Oz marked the first time she had ever actually played Judy. In June 2016, she will make her NYC cabaret debut at Feinstein’s/54 Below in Get Happy! Judy Garland 1944-’54; other upcoming highlights include a Sinatra & Garland Extravaganza with the Bemus Bay Pops Orchestra (NY) and a big band holiday concert with the Canton Symphony. She made her Cleveland Pops Orchestra debut at Severance Hall in 2005 and has since sung more than 30 concerts with the Pops, Erie Philharmonic, Wheaton and Lakeside Symphonies, and others in repertoire ranging from The King & I to Wicked. Her critically-acclaimed album, “Retrophonic Gershwin” (2015), mixed by Grammy-winning engineer Robert Friedrich, is available on iTunes. In addition to touring with the retro-radio-style shows Love Finds Judy Garland and Gershwin On the Air, regional theatre credits include Julie in Carousel, Nellie in South Pacific, Lizzie in 110 in the Shade, Eliza in My Fair Lady (in-concert), and Claudia in Nine. An Oberlin Conservatory graduate, she teaches popular voice at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the CWRU/ Cleveland Play House MFA Acting Program. www.joanellison.com

“Joan Ellison, on the other hand, is a ringer for Garland… — the voice, the mannerisms, the look. But this is more than an imitation. She conveys the authority of a superstar. The Boy from Oz was worth seeing just for her breathtaking performance.”

~Bill O’Neill, Collier Citizen (Florida), from a review of The Boy from Oz